Is this India's Best Chance?

[Lord]

We had one good fielding day because it was a new team. They are not finalized XI. Ishant' date=' Nehra, Praveen, Zaheer are atrocious fielders. 3 will play. Very difficult to hide 3 fielders.[/quote'] i would play only 2 Zak n PK,they r bad but can he hidden.wat i want from them is effort n i'm sure they'll push themselves come WC time.

[Serani]

Harbhajan is a pretty poor fielder, never see him dive when hes on the boundary and usually tries to stop it with his feet, Sehwag is average, Sachin these days is pretty average and Yuvraj seems to have got worse.

[Lord]

Harbhajan is a pretty poor fielder' date=' never see him dive when hes on the boundary and usually tries to stop it with his feet, Sehwag is average, Sachin these days is pretty average and Yuvraj seems to have got worse.[/quote'] dont agree at all.Bhajji can dollies at times but gives it all.never been afraid of diving.Sehwag is not great,but a pretty safe fielder..Sachin for his age is great.Yuvraj is struggling with knee injury once he gets fully fit,he'll be good again

[vvvslaxman]

Yusuf pathan is also a terrible fielder. Decent fielders are Jadeja, Karthik, Kohli, Raina, Rohit, Chawla. Only Raina and Ravi will play. Gauti is a decent fielder. But nothing spectacular. Our fielding is below average. Yuvi is definitely not even 50% as good as he was sometime back. It is an area we need vast improvement.

[nballa]

not really bro' date=' I think this Indian team can rise above it. Remember much was expected of us in 2003 and we went to the finals. That was also a strong team.[/quote'] i don't attach any significance to that wc. when kenya reached the semi-final, i knew i wouldn't watch the sf and final regardless of the outcome. i lost faith in the whole system. it betrayed me.

[vvvslaxman]

i don't attach any significance to that wc. when kenya reached the semi-final' date= i knew i wouldn't watch the sf and final regardless of the outcome. i lost faith in the whole system. it betrayed me.

correction: When Pakistan didn't reach semi final

[THX_1138]

u jinx team, i kick ur balls...

[diegovegaz]

1.sehwag 2.sachin 3.gambhir 4.yuvraj 5.dhoni 6.raina 7.nayar/irfan 8.jadeja 9.bhajji 10.zaheer 11.pk virat kohli an in form ishant sharma on reserve, if any1 gets injured, or gets dropped

[Ram]

India's obvious strength is our battling line-up laced with bunker-buster batters. In Sehwag, Sach, Gautam, Yuvraj (fully fit), MSD and Raina, we have 6 of the most effective and destructive batters you can come up with. This alone is probably good enough to ensure we will get through to the knock out stages. But if you're serious about mounting a successful world cup campaign, you need a team that can deliver in crunch situations, especially in the knock out phases. You need a team that score 110 runs in the last 15 overs with just 4 wickets in hand. You need a team that can defend a total with the opposition needing 120 runs off the last 20 overs with 7 wickets in hand and I am not sure we're capable of either of those, precisely because of the following reasons. 1)The batting positions of no.7 and no.8 - We still havent been able to figure out who to play here. Now, people can say that since we have such a star studded top-order, why would we have to worry about such low-rung positions in the batting chart? Good question, but lets remind ourselves that these days, almost all teams rake up 300+ totals with relative ease. And how often do you see teams chasing down 320 with 7,8 wickets in hand? Those chases are ALWAYS close affairs. The top-order might have done the job, but its upto the lower-order guys to finish the fight. And at the moment, we simply do not have accomplished enough players at these vitally important positions. 2) Forget the batting order, our biggest failing is without doubt, our fielding. I cannot remember when was the last time we scored a run-out off a direct hit or a fielder of ours took a tumbling catch running backwards. Your batsmen would have done their job by scoring 300+, your bowlers would have done ok by bowling reasonably, but if you dont have the fielders to back it all up, whats the point? I get a dreadful feeling every time I think about our fielding. Some others have expressed concern about how our pacers are going for tons of runs. I used to be concerned about it also, but I have finally understood that, in our conditions, every pace attack is going to be whooped. So you really cannot take our boys alone to task for being very generous. We can probably find a solution to the no.7 and no.8 spot before the world cup. I still think a Yusuf Pathan with a strong dose of common sense and improved shot selection can be devastating in Asian conditions, especially with the field up during the batting PP and the spinners bowling otherwise. I also think its time we reserve a definite spot for Praveen Kumar in the WC starting eleven, not just because he has shown himself to be a wily ODI bowler, but also a capable no.8 batsmen. And I still think that we should at least explore the option of playing 2 pacers and 2 spinners (Bhajji and Jadeja) on a trial basis and see how it goes. If that comes off well, we can then have the luxury of playing Yusuf at 7, Jadeja at 8, Bhajji at 9 and Kumar at 10 and that gives us tremendous batting depth. And these days in ODIs, batting depth is EVERYTHING. If that tactic does not work, we might have to make that difficult trade-off b/w Jadeja's controlled bowling and Yusuf's potentially explosive batting in Asian conditions. But sigh... What the heck are we supposed to do about our hopeless fielding? Its fielding that makes all the difference during the close encounters of the knock-out games and has been our single biggest let-down. And partly because of that, we got soundly beaten by a depleted Australia at home. We crashed out of the champions trophy, lost the Asia cup finals, Kitply cup finals and Tri series finals in B'desh. Our tests performances might have gone from strength to strength, but we have very little to show in the last 2 years when it comes to our performances in multi-lateral ODI tournaments. And the world cup is the biggest multi-lateral tournament of 'em all. I honestly think our batting depth is good enough to take us into the knock-out stages, but I am not sure we have what it takes to survive high-octane environment of the semis and the finals. If our batting crumbles, which it is bound to do every once in a while, I dont think we can rely upon our bowling or fielding to rescue the situation. I think WC '11 might be a bit like WC '99. We'll probably pulverize all our league-stage adversaries with blockbuster scores , but if it comes to the time when the rubber meets the road in knockouts, we might be found a little short. Not encouraging signs if you're an Indian fan.

[hari504504]

Hopefully this thread will be good enough for his holiest Baba Dhondy Ram's standards. 2011 WC in pretty much one year's time and our ODI unit looks fantastic from the batting perspective and horrible from the bowling perspective. The World Cup, as of now, will be played in the subcontinent, and we'll see more ODIs where the average score will be 280+ and 300 isn't safe anymore. Two questions bother me the most. 1) Are flat tracks good for us? Our bowlers suck as it is, with only Bhajji and Zaheer being able to handle the batsmen on flat decks. Sreesanth, Sharma, Kumar, all have been leaking runs. I thought we bowled superbly as a unit on the Aussie tour. But can we even prepare those types of pitches on time? Our batsmen are world class, they will be able to handle the opposition bowlers...I'm not so sure about India's bowlers. How long will our batsmen keep setting up games that our bowlers screw up (or give us heart attacks while winning)? 2) What combination do we play? With Bhajji and Zak being able to bat well down the stretch, our batting lineup is extended. Does that eliminate a place for an all rounder (Yusuf, Irfan, Nayar)? Or do we still need an X-Factor? The key to this World Cup will be how well India bowl, not how well we'll bat. With Sehwag in the form of his life and Tendulkar rock solid as ever, with Yuvraj and Dhoni backing them up, we're good for batting. The bowling will have to come through My lineup for the first 3 games of the world cup, assuming tracks like the ones against SAF recently. Virender Sehwag Sachin Tendulkar Gautam Gambhir Yuvraj Singh Mahendra Singh Dhoni Suresh Raina Yusuf Pathan Harbhajan Singh Zaheer Khan Praveen Kumar Amit Mishra If I had my way, I would drop Virat and slot in Irfan for his all round abilities. Both Pathan brothers would give the side some good options. One fear from WC 2007 is definitely solved, this side can field and isn't too old. This is our best chance.

Virender Sehwag Gautam Gambhir Sachin Tendulkar Yuvraj Singh Mahendra Singh Dhoni Suresh Raina Yusuf Pathan Harbhajan Singh Zaheer Khan Praveen Kumar ? Tendu should come one down, we need his experience there - can't waste him at the top. He's super-fit and can rotate the strike and lend stability to the innings. Substitute Yusuf with Irfan or play them alternatively. Ishant would hopefully regain his form by then and push Praveen for a slot. Mishra will be taken apart on flat wickets by any average slogger.. I'd ake Ojha over him and maybe any of the youngsters coming through- like the tall left arm spinner from TN Now for hte most radical suggestion- We need someone as a back-up for Zaheer, someone who is experienced bowling in the subcontinent..an ODI specialist who is no mug with the bat lately - Sir Aggy !! :hatsoff:...

[Shehezaada]

Actually Agarkar is not a bad option, great fielder and decent batsmen as well.

[vvvslaxman]

Yusuf can be a real trump card in India. We should give him chances in every match.

[hari504504]

Actually Agarkar is not a bad option' date=' great fielder and decent batsmen as well.[/quote'] Yeah I was being serious too. He could be a real trump card for us for WC 2011. BCCI have shown great interest in blooding youngsters..but similarly they shouldn't be shy about giving some of the older ones a second shot - especially when the youngsters haven't been shapingup too well in the bowling department . With Agarkar..we'll have genuine batting capabilitiy possibly all the way to number 8

[punjabiplaya]

time for a recall for irfan in my opinion i rekon he will peform better.. his battings better than an all rounder and he should be given the new ball to take advantage of his swing bowling .. give him a run its the only way his confidence will soar,you cant just drop matchwinners and lets be honest hes a matchwinner with both bat and ball.

[hari504504]

time for a recall for irfan in my opinion i rekon he will peform better.. his battings better than an all rounder and he should be given the new ball to take advantage of his swing bowling .. give him a run its the only way his confidence will soar' date='you cant just drop matchwinners and lets be honest hes a matchwinner with both bat and ball.[/quote'] Recall em both... If Zaheer gets injured- Aggy is the only honest fill for that slot. Irfan can swap with yusuf for the all-rounder slot depending on form. We can't be testing IPL wonders in the 2011 WC - If aggy maintains his domestic form during early 2010 season - then selectors should seriously consider

[vvvslaxman]

Irfan will qualify purely as a batsman in the following countries. West Indies Pakistan Bangladesh New Zealand

[hari504504]

Irfan will qualify purely as a batsman in the following countries. West Indies Pakistan Bangladesh New Zealand

The point is that we dont need a 'pure batsman' we've plently of em. We need someone who can bowl well (importantly). Even if Pathan becomes a pure tail ender in terms of batting , we'll take it if he gets back his old swing and pace.

[vvvslaxman]

The point is that we dont need a 'pure batsman' we've plently of em. We need someone who can bowl well (importantly). Even if Pathan becomes a pure tail ender in terms of batting ' date=' we'll take it if he gets back his old swing and pace.[/quote'] When there is a distinct gap between Pathan and rest of the bowlers then i see your point. Rightnow at times they are far worse than Pathan ever was. So it is not just about batting it is also about getting the most from a player as a whole. If Ishant, Nehra give away say 30 to 40 runs every match i can understand. But they go for 6 RPO pretty much every match which was why Irfan was dropped in the first place.